This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Heat and pressure printing and transfer applications often require two pressures to complete the operation. The process may require an application of a first (e.g. pre-heat or pre-cure) pressure, then an application of a second pressure. For example, the first pressure can be 40 psi and the second pressure can be 60 psi. Typical clam presses provide a single means of pre-setting the close pressure. Thus, only one close pressure is generally available per setting of the adjustment means. When using typical clam presses for applications that require two pressures, an operator can either pre-set two separate clam presses and move the work piece between the two clam presses, or must open and adjust the pre-set pressure of the single clam press after the first application of pressure. This can be time consuming, tedious, and costly. Thus, some operators pre-set the clam press to the higher of the two pressure settings and manually hold the clam press at a pressure that the operator approximates to be the lower pressure based on feel and experience. This method depends mainly on the skill and performance of the operator and can result in inconsistent pressure applications.